Sometimes when a team loses their first game of the season when they had a long winning streak; they do not know how to respond and suffered another loss. This is what happened to Wisconsin's basketball program. Badgers went 0-2 this week losing to Michigan at home 77-70 for the first time since people were concerned about Y2K. Badgers once again was let down by their defensive effort, an inconsistent Traevon Jackson but did get another encouraging Josh Gasser performance on the offensive end.Mitch McGary went out with a back injury in early December. People felt like all hope was lost for this Michigan team as they struggled in the non-conference. John Beilein figured out how to win with this basketball team, and this is an impressive coaching job thus far. Nik Stauskas and Caris LeVert tore up Wisconsin as they combined for 43 points including six 3-pointers. Stauskas turned into a player whom is just not a heat-check guy rather an all-around basketball player with a silky jumper. The step-back three from Stauskas deserves to be on 'One Shining Moment' because it was that good.
So what's the problem here with Wisconsin's defense? I think it is a combination of being an undersized team inside with having a player like Sam Dekker, not a true post player and Frank Kaminsky, just a shot blocker. Dekker pulled down 10 rebounds which is great for Wisconsin, but Kaminsky only had four rebounds. It is not like Michigan pulled down a bevy of offensive rebounds, but what it says is Kaminsky really did not have position to make rebounds being a factor on the defensive end. When Ben Brust has sixth defensive rebounds alone to Kaminksy's two is not a good sign for this Badgers team moving forward in the rugged Big Ten.
Our one bright spot with their Indiana defeat was the play of Traevon Jackson. He turned around on Saturday and had one of his worst performances of the year. He went 3 for 11 missing two 3-points in the process as well as taking a brutal shot late in the game when Jackson had multiple defenders on him. The inconsistent play of Jackson is something that could really hurt Wisconsin in the long run. He does not need to be a scorer on this team. Sure, there are situations where they might need him, but in the long run, Jackson is the fourth scoring option on this starting five. He needs to be more in control, and if he is not, Bo Ryan needs to be quicker on yanking him out of the game versus letting him play through it.
This game was not great for Wisconsin, but it seems like Josh Gasser is out of his funk. In December, Gasser had a four-game stretch where he averaged a little over three points a game. In the last four games, he has scored in a double-digits and an efficient manner too. He seemed to have figure things out a bit on the offensive end which is huge for this team making Jackson less of a scoring option. Sometimes when a player suffers a severe injury, it takes some time to figure out how to play basketball again at an efficient rate. Gasser also went four for five from 3-point land which is a season-best for him.
Wisconsin heads out on the road to play a young Minnesota team at The Barn Wednesday night before heading to Purdue on Saturday. Badgers need to get back on track, and these are not easy games for them. With a couple days to prepare, you have to believe Wisconsin will be better on defense and if not, this might be only an above average team.
Charlie.
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